This invention relates to digital printing. More specifically, this invention relates to a method and system of pre-selecting ordered media in a printing system.
A digital printing system with multiple media (e.g., paper) supplies and output destinations may have limited capability in the selection of different output destinations for the blank or printed output pages. For example, a digital printing system may only allow a user to select one output destination per output set for a print job. An output set refers to a group of output pages (e.g., printed output pages), which may be repeated for a single print job. Many digital printing systems generally fail to allow the operator to choose an output destination for individual pages of the output set. The user of the printing system may resort to inefficient, labor-intensive, and slow manual sorting processes to handle the proper grouping or collating of papers for a print job, where individual treatment of one or more output pages in the output set is required. Thus, a need exists for a printing system that supports selection of different output destinations, even for the same execution of a single output set of a print job to reduce printing costs and cycle time.
Some printing systems support special features that allow two output destinations to be used during a single print job. These printing systems typically use one exit (e.g., a top exit) for printing media of their system as a xe2x80x9cpurgexe2x80x9d tray. For print jobs executed on such a printing system, the printing system determines if some of the media loaded in one of the input paper trays is not needed by a current or a successive print job, but must be fed through the system so that the next output set does not improperly use the wrong media. Accordingly, the printing system calculates how many unwanted sheets in the input paper tray must be xe2x80x9cpurgedxe2x80x9d. However, the printing system may lack the flexibility to let a requestor choose when to route a page to the xe2x80x9cpurgexe2x80x9d tray to customize a print job. Finally, many printing systems do not support printing on the pages which are sent to the xe2x80x9cpurgexe2x80x9d tray, further detracting from the ability to tailor a printing job to meet the preferences of a user. Thus, a need exists to enhance a user""s control over the routing of pages within a printer to support a customization of a print job.
When using ordered media within a print job, there may be instances where it is necessary to separate or dispose of unused portions or sheets of the ordered media. Separating the unused portions of the ordered media during the print job may slow down the completion of the print job. This may lead to inefficient use of printer when the print shop has many print jobs to run on the printer. Therefore, there is a need to pre-select only that portion of the ordered media that will be used in the print job.
In order to address the deficiencies of the prior art, an improved method and system are provided for pre-selecting only that portion of the ordered media that will be used in the print job. As a result, the unused portion of the ordered media is not present when the print job is run, leading to a faster and more efficient processing of the print job on the printer.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a system is provided for pre-selecting ordered media in a printing system. The system includes an input source to store at least one set of the ordered media. The system also includes a user interface having an input device to select the ordered media from a paper catalog. The user interface is also used to pre-select a first part of the ordered media set to be used in a print job and a second unwanted part of the ordered media set to be discarded. The system further has a first job output, a second job output, and a central processing unit configured to send the first part of the ordered media set directly to the first job output and the second part of the ordered media set directly to the second job output.
Another aspect of the invention is a method of pre-selecting ordered media in a printing system. The method includes associating the ordered media with an entry in a paper catalog in response to an input on an interface. The method also includes pre-selecting a first part of a set of the ordered media to be used in a print job in response to another input on the interface. The method further includes determining a second unwanted part of the ordered media set to be discarded, and configuring the printing system to send the first part of the ordered media set directly to a first job output and the second part of the ordered media set directly to a second job output.
A further aspect of the invention is a method of pre-selecting ordered media in a printing system. The method includes selecting the ordered media from a paper catalog through an interface on the printing system. The ordered media comprises a plurality of sheets having different physical characteristics. The method also includes storing at least one set of the ordered media in an input source, and pre-selecting through an interface on the printing system a first part of the ordered media set to be used in a print job and a second unwanted part of the ordered media set to be discarded. The method further includes configuring the printing system to send the first part of the ordered media set directly to a first job output and the second part of the ordered media set directly to a second job output in response to input on the interface.
Yet another aspect of the invention is a system for pre-selecting ordered media in a printing system. The system includes means for associating the ordered media with an entry in a paper catalog in response to an input on an interface. The system also includes means for pre-selecting a first part of a set of the ordered media to be used in a print job in response to another input on the interface. The system further includes means for determining a second unwanted part of the ordered media set to be discarded, and means for configuring the printing system to send the first part of the ordered media set directly to a first job output and the second part of the ordered media set directly to a second job output.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of preferred embodiments of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.